St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-03-20
ST. PAUL REAL ESTATE.
The Traffic in Dirt Has Not Materially
CHARACTERISTICS are Numerous and
Prices Firm.
A Good Deal of Movement Reported in
the Northern Part of the
City.
The Cheapest Property offered in ANY
City in the Union is in st.
Paul.
What is Thought of San Francisco,
Kansas City, Atchison, Topeka
and Other Cities.
The coming of snring has awakened new

The coming of spring has awaken new
interest in the Midway district and lots in
Sylvan Park, Midway Heights, Manchester
and other additions are in very active de-
mand. There is also very vigorous in
Qury for acres to plat, or for choice resi-
dence tracts, where gentlemen desire ample
grounds around ample homes. The letting
of contracts for the paving of various
streets with asphalt on st. Anthony hil is
awakening new interest in that part of the
city and desire to secure lots for homes
anywhere fronting n paved street. Day
toms blum is showing up very cOnspcu-
ouSly III the transfers and the activity of
leading residents in the various East Side
associations indicate that they have awak-
ened from their lethargy and intend to push
public improvements and take a very active
and leading part in the Onward progress of the
city, The various excavations for new I'M
provements show that the building season
IS actually begun. Many people who scan
the large volume of real estate transfers
from week to week, are, or seem to be.
under the impression that there is a real
boom" in progress in ST. Paul. This,
however, is not the case. In spite of all
the talk of this character, it is fact that
cannot be disputed, that prices continue
very conservative and, in many classes of
property, very low. The great preponder-
ence of small sales running under So, 900
show that the prosperous mechanics, rail-
road employees and trades people are buy
ing homes for themselves, securing lots on
which to build. A ride into any part of the
suburbs will disclose preparations for the
erection of neat little homes costing
from $500 TO 81, 800. This means
real prosperity" not wild speculation.
The discovery and development of iron
mines on Lake Superior, and more recently
at or near KNAPP Pond Wilson, OH the
Omaha railroad in Wisconsin. will vastly
benefit this city. 1t will lead to the estab-
iishment of all kinds of iron industries, and
will give solidlty and wealth to this city
such as it never has possessed before. If
the rumorS heretofore made public prove
true that superior quality of iron in vast
beds and of other ores in ineXhaustible
quantities exists in Wisconsin, almost at
the city's doors, it will do more to build up
this city than anything heretofore relied
upon. Men of large experience and who
are shrewd and careful, have looked into
these alleged discoveries and are confident
that the find"
HAS NOT BEEN OVERESTIMATED.
Carloads of the crude material are being
sent to the best furnaces in this country to
be practically tested and the actual result,
so far as quality is concerned, will soon be
known. If the quality proves to be what
is claimed, the only other question will be
one of quantity. That can be settled by
actual mining operations, which will be
pushed with all the capital necessary as
soon as the first question is settled. If both
prove favorable, st. Paul is the point that
will receive the greatest benefit by the loca-
ton here Of great iron industries of all
kinds. The much discussed interstate COM
merce law, it appears. will really operate
favorably for st. Paul, because she
is protected by the nearness of
the great lakes. and will soon
be aided by the completion Of
the 800" railroad All the various ele-
ments combined are giving stability and
solidity to the values of real estate in st.
Paul beyond that of any other competing
points where the boom business is draw
ing prices far above reasonable and healthy
values. There is the finest field here for
the investment of capital in real estate for
men who are not simply spectators, but
who want to buy something that is worth
owning and holding. There is not much
done here, and never has been in real estate
options. Men who pay earnest money, as
rule, expect to buy and do not put up
the contract, This way of doing business
is set down on heavily by the zeal estate
board and by all the reputable dealers. In
many offices real estate brokers will not ac-
cept of deposit that looks like a mere
option. 1t is this conservative spirit that
has kept prices so reasonable. People who
are buying property in small towns at 81. 900
per front foot. and suburban acres 3. and
miles out at from 81, 900 to $1,000 per
acre might we'll reflect as to whether prop
erty in st. Paul is not safe with seventeen
independent railroads, over 5000 miles of
railroad tributary to the city. a population
OF $50. 900, vast jobbing and manufacturing
enterprises already established at from
$3.50 to $1,000 per front foot for business
property and suburban acres at from $3.50
to S700 per acre. These are not ''boom''
prices but safe. conservative values, that
will not drop out or vanish when the option
dealer has made his little speculation and
gone home. The truth of the matter is that
one may look st. Paul over and he will find
that prices are comparatively
a GREAT DEAL LOWER
than they are in Kansas City anu other cit
les Of about the same size. At the present
time St. Paul is quite a large city. Its
business is very extensive and daily increas-
ing. 1t is power, a city among cities,
containing a population that is re-
markably conservative, not given to
schemes or wild speculatons. One marked
evidence of her conservatism is that in the
midst of all the prosperity of the country at
the present time, while other cities not as
large are carried away with excitement and
enthusiasm at their success st. Paul is I'M
disturbed, and calm, and sedate. Where
Kansas City is asking S3, 900 per front foot,
st. Paul is satisfied with ST. Here
business is solid and stable. Everything is
firm and mistaken, and all kinds of business
pursuits are conducted in the ordinary way,
with no special effort or excitement
in any one particular direction.
1t was but few years ago that Winnipeg
mad an immense boom. Prices went up at
fabulous rate. Men, women and children
were crazy to buy real estate at enormous
profits. Block after block was sold there,
and some of our business men went up to
look at the spectacle. They had never seen
anything like it, and one or two of them
were foolish enough to lay down some
up again. The excitement spread
50 in Winnipeg that gang
of the Spectators, with their
great auctioneer. Coolican, came down
to st. Paul to show people here how to sell
real estate. They hired the opera house
and, with a band of music, went at it. The
great Coolican told his best Stories and shot
off his best jokes. and they all seemed new
here, but it would not do. With all the
noise and confusion and music they could
make they could not move the conservative
people of St. Paul. They would not be
taken and Coolican and his Winnipeg COM
panions went home disappointed. A few
weeks latel real estate in Winnipeg could
not be given away. St. Paul does not pro-